Ashes 2013: comment on Usman Khawaja in no way meant to disparage the uniquely placed Australia batsman

My comment about Usman Khawaja, on the last day of the fourth Test at
Riverside, seems to have stirred a storm: “He (Khawaja) could well be
replaced in the Oval Test by Phil Hughes and Australia’s experiment with
their Asian immigrant population will be shelved.”

Eye of the storm: Scyld Berry's comment about Usman Khawaja in the fourth Test at Durham upset some readersPhoto: GETTY IMAGES

For those who think this is a racist comment and have taken umbrage at it, I warmly applaud both the sentiments and the strength of those feelings.

If I may explain, however, it is an observation I made without any intent to disparage Khawaja, but as an attempt to portray the unique position in which he finds himself as the first Muslim to represent Australia – and, broadly speaking, the first non-white since Sam Morris in the nineteenth century.

Let us begin by looking at England’s experience with Asian players, and I exclude Nasser Hussain who has an English mother.

The main Asian cricketers of recent times to have represented England are Monty Panesar, Samit Patel and Ravi Bopara.

From what I have seen, they have been marginal players in the Test and limited-overs teams. Furthermore, I found it strange and regrettable that Panesar and Patel came to be seen as figures of fun, while Bopara was involved in controversy during the Champions Trophy after simply fulfilling his role within the England team.

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In the same way, Khawaja has appeared to me to be a marginal figure in the Australian team, from what I saw on his Test debut against England in Sydney, and the tour match against Somerset, and in this Test series to date.

In his revealing book about Australian domestic cricket, Ed Cowan wrote of Khawaja: “He has become a master of controlling his emotions … This rare quality will hold him in great stead for an undoubtedly stellar Test career.”

But the star has not reached anything like the ascendancy: Khawaja played six Tests in 2011 and has been a reserve batsman since.

Establishing himself as a Test batsman has been difficult. Khawaja has spoken of how often he gets stopped by security at Australian airports, simply for being non-white; and, ironically, he is a qualified pilot himself as well as a well-known cricketer.

In the field he is not an automatic pick. Hughes keeps the position of third slip, even though he does not hang on to every chance there, and is therefore close to the Clarke-Haddin heartbeat of the team; Cowan has made himself useful at short-leg. But Khawaja drifts around on the fringes.

Hence the value of Cowan’s insight about Khawaja controlling his emotions. Can he become a regular Test batsman without feeling free to express more of his emotions? Or will he only be known as the first Muslim to break down a barrier, and it will be a future member of Australia’s Asian community who becomes their first established cricketer?”

Khawaja has not seemed entirely at ease and at home. Darren Lehmann did not exonerate him from Australia’s collapse in their second innings at Durham, as he exonerated David Warner and Chris Rogers.

It looks as though Khawaja might be dropped from the Oval Test, as he is now averaging 25 after nine Tests.

If he is dropped, he will be no more than the prototype – and I think that is a waste of talent. If he had not been dropped so soon after his innings of 65 in the Johannesburg Test that enabled Australia to beat South Africa in a fine run-chase; if he had been given a consistent run at number four, rather than at numbers six and three; if he had felt more at home … who knows?

Personally I think if he had appeared 10 years on from now, from what I have seen of his qualities, he might have become Australia’s first Asian captain.

This is my position on Khawaja. To clarify further my attitude to racial integration in cricket, please read on.

Five years ago, as editor of Wisden Cricketers’ Almanack, I was able to start a competition called the Wisden City Cup.

Angus Fraser, as director of cricket at Middlesex, kindly co-founded it. He had joined Middlesex in the 1980s when the county had five Afro-Caribbean cricketers, and it was the most successful decade in their history, but at the time we started the WCC, Owais Shah was Middlesex’s only non-white player.

After four years I managed to extend the WCC to Leicester, Luton and London South/Surrey. It is a competition for inner-city cricketers, aged 16 to 22, who do not play in premier or major leagues and who do not have access to decent grounds and pitches.

We did not take any details of the racial background of these players. But of the more than 200 players who participated last year, my impression was that at least two-thirds were of south Asian origin.

Before the start of this season, knowing that my hands would be full this summer with the Ashes, and wishing to expand to eight cities, I asked the ECB to take on this competition, and they have generously done so.

It has now evolved into the Lord’s Taverners City Cup in association with the ECB, MCC and Wisden. Our two original administrators, Phil Knappett and Sadhna Patel, are working under the auspices of the ECB’s head of non-first-class cricket, Paul Bedford, while I take a back seat.

The involvement of MCC is crucial because, for the last two years, they have taken the most promising player in our competition and given him a contract as a MCC Young Cricketer.

Diyapan Paul is believed to be the first British Bangladeshi to get a full-time contract as a cricketer in this country.

He proved so good that his contract was renewed for a second season, but injury has made him defer it until next year. In the meantime Zain Shahzad is reported to have been the MCC Young Cricketer’s best bowler this season.

So now we have the first national inter-city competition for inner-city cricketers there has ever been in this country.

Quarter-finals are coming to somewhere that may be near you: Manchester v Bradford at Burnley CC, Birmingham v Wolverhampton at Walsall CC, Luton v Leicester at Wardown Park, and London North/Middlesex v London South/Surrey at Spencer’s CC.

It has been immensely gratifying to see inner-city players appreciating the opportunity to play on decent pitches, having grown up playing on council-owned park pitches where a bouncer is likely to shoot along the ground. It cost me a lot of time and money – and it was very worthwhile.

Australia’s Asian population is now said to be 10 per cent of the total. Although I have not examined their system closely, I would have thought from this distance that more could have been done to help and encourage them.

If so, Khawaja would not be fighting the good fight all on his own.

PS My wife is an Asian immigrant, originally Indian, and we have been married for almost 30 years.